[Vision2020] UI Professor Joins Ice Melt Research

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (September 29, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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UI professor joins ice melt research
Clouds above Greenland may hold warming clues

At the Greenland ice sheet’s coldest and thickest point, where
temperatures can plunge to 55 degrees below zero and ancient ice layers
are 10,000 feet deep, a University of Idaho professor will use weather
balloons to study whether changing cloud patterns are speeding up the ice
melt.

The twice-daily balloon launches will collect data about temperature, air
pressure and humidity. Over time, the information will provide an
intricate look at clouds blanketing the Northern Hemisphere’s largest ice
mass.

Associate geography professor Von Walden and colleagues at two other
universities want to know if Greenland’s cloud cover is getting thicker.
The answer could have important ramifications for rising sea levels.

“We know that clouds are important in polar zones. They trap heat,” Walden
said. “If the cloud properties are changing over time, as a result of
climate change, that could dramatically affect the amount of energy that
returns back to the ice sheet from the atmosphere.”

“It’s an open question what clouds might do,” Walden added. “If you’re
making it warmer at the surface, then perhaps the (ice) melt might occur
faster.”

A $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant will fund the research
over the next four years. Walden is the lead investigator on the project.
His research collaborators are Matthew Shupe at the University of Colorado
and Dave Turner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Similar research is under way at two other Arctic stations – Eureka, in
Canada’s Northwest Territories, and Barrow, Alaska. The combined data will
give researchers a comprehensive look at Arctic cloud patterns.

The Greenland ice sheet covers an area roughly the size of Mexico. It
extends nearly 1,600 miles from north to south, encompassing 80 percent of
Greenland’s surface. Only the Antarctica ice sheet is larger.

If the entire sheet were to melt away – which some scientists believe
could occur within several hundred years as temperatures rise from
heat-trapping greenhouse gases – the world’s oceans would rise by 23 feet,
submerging coastal cities. Recent news reports indicate that the Greenland
ice sheet is losing 200 million cubic meters of ice a year. That’s
equivalent to 80,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

“Things are changing very quickly in the Arctic right now,” Walden said.
“There’s really no debate that we’re perturbing our atmosphere and global
warming is beginning to occur.”

As part of the research, weather balloons will be launched every 12 hours
at Summit, Greenland, a camp run by the National Science Foundation. The
universities will install other atmospheric measuring equipment as well.

The initial work will establish baseline cloud conditions, Walden said.
After four years, the researchers hope to continue the work through
additional grants.

Sending up the balloons is a labor intensive process that will consume a
large part of the grant money. Walden plans to hire a staffer to spend the
coldest winter months at the research camp. Students from UI and the other
universities will take three- to four-month rotations at the station
during warmer seasons.

Walden spent five days at Summit at the beginning of August with Shupe,
the Colorado professor. Walden’s been to Antarctica six times for field
research, but this was his first trip to Greenland. When the wind blew and
the temperature dropped to 25 degrees below zero at night, the men
shivered in their double sleeping bags and “Arctic oven” tents.

The camp consists of several buildings and an air strip. It’s a hub for
all sorts of climate change research, Walden said. Scientists are studying
past climate fluctuations by taking core samples of the ice sheet. Like
soil, ice gets laid down in layers. “If you drill down into it, you get a
record of past climate,” Walden said.

The universities will work out of a mobile lab that sits on giant skis.
Despite the harsh environment, Walden doesn’t anticipate a shortage of
students interested in a rotation. “This will be an incredible field
experience,” he said. “There are students who would jump at this
opportunity, and once they get there, they’re pretty hooked.”

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http://tinyurl.com/GreenlandIceSheet

The Greenland ice sheet, shown above, is reportedly losing 200 million
cubic meters of ice a year. A University of Idaho professor plans to study
how clouds above the ice sheet influence climate. Photo courtesy of Von
Walden

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Dr. Von Walden

[from his UI website]

Dr. Walden is an associate professor in the Geography Department of the
University of Idaho where he teaches courses in meteorology, climatology,
and global climatic change. His research focuses on understanding polar
climates and, in particular, polar clouds. He is also involved in a
project to forecast streamflows in Idaho.

http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~vonw/images/vpwNearMcMurdo.jpg

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Certainly more impressive than replicating the Shroud of Turin with an
Etch-a-Sketch, huh?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown